“In
a press release this afternoon, Mr Parker said ‘gas and
coal generators’ carbon costs are incorporated into the
price paid to hydro, wind and geothermal generators, despite
the fact they have zero or low carbon emissions.’

“Time and again I stood up in the House
and said that Labour’s ETS would create windfall profits
for renewable generators and it would hurt those on
low-comes the most. But Labour didn’t care.

“In the
same release, Mr Parker goes on to say that ‘under
Labour’s [new energy] policy only companies whose
generated electricity emits carbon will be able to charge
for it.’ What this means is Labour is now trying to sell
itself as the saviour of a problem it created.

“The
point of introducing Labour’s ETS was to push the price of
electricity up so that New Zealanders used less of
it.

“Mr Parker needs to explain why he favoured giving
renewable generators a windfall gain two years ago, and what
has changed in the past two years to make him change his
mind?

“I would wager that this has nothing to do with
caring about energy prices for households and everything to
do with Labour’s campaign to upset the asset sales
programme,” Mr Boscawen
said.

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